2017 Tokunation Toku Wrap-up

Year is ending and I thought it would be nice to reflect as a community regarding tokusatsu. Below are some categories that I hand-picked like lockseeds in a Yggdrasil lab so let us look back this year as we welcome next year.

RULES1. Follow the format

2. Do share at least one reason for your choice(can be just a sentence if you want)

BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: It was just a great show that not only had some crazy designs but also succeeded in blending two unlikely things, medical drama and video games, to make a great show.

BEST HERO/HEROINE OF THE YEAR
Riku Asakura/Ultraman Geed from Ultraman Geed: His whole "I won't just sit on my rear and wait for a miracle" attitude is what makes him a genuine hero for me. I love his attitude as a character and a hero and the fact that his relations to Belial does not let it govern his path is also great to see.

BEST VILLAIN/VILLAINESS OF THE YEAR
Masamune Dan/Kamen Rider Cronus from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Straight-up ruthless cold-blooded killer is a mild compliment to this guy. The vile acts he shows are just... wow.

BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER OF THE YEAR
Nico Saiba from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: She humanized Taiga for me somewhat and her antics that brought Taiga to his knees were priceless. I also liked how she grew as the show progressed making her a valuable comrade of Emu/Ex-Aid later on as Ride Player Nico.

BEST COSTUME OF THE YEAR
Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger: In a sentai show that boasts a 12-member team, they took the time to try and make each and every ranger unique in their own way from the mechanical deviation of Tenbin Gold's suit to Ohkami Blue's fur suit. The diverse variations to the costumes are definitely the selling points regards to this category and is probably gonna hard to top for the time being. The base suit template is also a nice design giving off a sci-fi hero/space suit look with the breastplate, shoulders, and pipings, and the way the surface of the visors look like a reflection of outer space is a nice touch as well.

BEST HENSHIN DEVICE OF THE YEAR
Neo Amazons Driver from Kamen Rider Amazons Season 2: The syringe gimmick is a nice touch within the context of the show and the buckle itself is a nice design. While the classic Amazons Driver is a nice nod to the OG Amazon this looks more efficient and less clunky unlike most rider belts these days personally.

BEST WEAPON OF THE YEAR
Kyu The Weapon from Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger: I love modular weapons and this is one of the best since Den-O's dengasher. I love how you get 9 weapons depending on what you add or subtract.

BEST POWER-UP OF THE YEAR
Hebitsukai Metal from Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: This was an unexpected thing that became a thing. While Shishi Red Orion is far superior and impressive as it makes Lucky Gaim Kiwami Arms, I have to give this title to Hebitsukai Metal. The build up for this was awesome and I personally think it is a great symbol of character growth for Naga.

BEST VEHICLE/ROBOT OF THE YEAR
Kuma Voyager from Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger: I think it plays with the whole Ursa Major and Ursa Minor concept very well and is well-designed too.

BEST ACTOR/ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Yuta Ozawa as Leito Igaguri/Ultraman Zero from Ultraman Geed: Ozawa I think pulled off the whole double persona act well since he was one of the fun factors when watching Geed for me. The way he goes from bumbling salaryman to natural-born badass trapped in said bumbling salaryman's body did not feel awkward. Plus the man has moves that have not been seen since Ryutaros possessed Ryotaro.

BEST VOICE ACTOR/ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Yuuki Ono as Balance/Tenbin Gold from Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger and Ultraman Belial from Ultraman Geed: Ono showed range as the flashy Balance and the malicious Belial this year and that is always a plus for stuff like this.

BEST MERCHANDISE OF THE YEAR
Super Mini-pla model kits: While pricy, Bandai has further stepped their game up this year with the release of the Zyuranger kits.

Best show: Build, the show has so much good things to praise
Best hero: Ryuga Banjo, a likeable character who goes through quite a bit of character development
Best villain: Blood Stalk, a cool, fun villain who's got an amazing plan
Best supporting character: Poppy, easily the best female Rider in the franchise
Best costume: Geed Magnificent, good lord does that design DEMAND respect
Best henshin device: Geed Riser, it's fun to use the Capsules
Best weapon: Kyu weapons, the mix and match appeal works wonders
Best power up: Maximum Mighty X, it is a dumb chunk with loads of stupid shit, I love it
Best vehicle/Robot: Kyurenoh, very well-designed mech
Best actor: Kuroto's actor, he is a JOY to watch
Best VA: Balance's VA/Josuke's VA, he sounds so cheerful and being my favourite Jojo helps
Best merchandise: Fullbottles, fun to shake around!
EDIT: Forget the 'add a reason' rule, gonna edit it in

BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, no contest. The characters, the plot, the designs, everything about this year's show was practically wonderful. The show took off in the new year, and never looked back. I still can't wait for the trilogy of movies to count towards next years list

BEST HERO/HEROINE OF THE YEAR
Taiga Hanaya, from Ex-Aid. While he started out the year as a giant jerk, as Ex-Aid went on, and his motivations were revealed, my love for the tragic doctor, whose career (and life, and mental stability) was ruined for nothing more than a single step in an evil plan, grew. Any of the main three Ex-Aid crew could go here, but for sheer emotional punch, Taiga wins out.

BEST VILLAIN/VILLAINESS OF THE YEAR
If there was always someone to look forward to in Ex-Aid, it was Kuroto Dan. Even after killing Kiriya, his evil grew (RIP Burgermon), and even death couldn't stop him. Seriously, how many plans to avoid death did this guy have? Considering his grand plan was to put all of humanity into his game to fight to the death, that's pretty sociopathic and evil. Even his turn to be somewhat heroic doesn't keep him from this place, as its clear he's only helping the heroes to get revenge on whoever messed with him be it Parad or his own dad. Dan Kuroto, im all his meme-glory, is the greatest villain of the year. Or, at least, my personal favourite. Others may be more evil, but they're not this fun to watch.

BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER OF THE YEAR
Being a not-Lucky character, Naga Rei was somewhat towards the background for most of Kyuranger, but his recent (to me, being behind) arc gave him time to shine, and reminded me how much I love the emotionless alien, struggling to find what his friends have so easily.

BEST COSTUME OF THE YEAR
Kamen Rider Chronus. The green and black work together so well, and the longcoat just makes him look even greater. The blacked out eyes, compared to every other Ex-Aid suit, work wonderfully as well, to show the soulless man behind the mask.

BEST HENSHIN DEVICE OF THE YEAR
The Neo-Amazons driver, while a little simplistic, is simple, functional, and effective, and the syringe motif matches with the tone of the series. It's enough for me to love it.

BEST WEAPON OF THE YEAR
It's got to be KyuTheWeapon, hasn't it? Just the sheer amount of mixing and matching you can do with it is impressive.

BEST POWER-UP OF THE YEAR
Juju Burger. It gave Ex-Aid rollerskates and mustard/ketchup cannons. Truly, it is the best power-up.
(Also Taddle Fantasy Brave exists and might be my serious choice, if joke options are frowned upon, for being the culmination of Hiiro's character arc and representing his dead girlfriend, but whatever)

BEST VEHICLE/ROBOT OF THE YEAR
Uhh... Ryutei-Oh's pretty cool, being a giant purple dragon with two arms attatched. Yeah, I'll go with that.

BEST ACTOR/ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Tetsuya Iwanaga‎/Kuroto Dan. The man can go from smarmy genius to insane villain in a heartbeat, and his motions and acting definitely went a long way to making Dan such a memorable part of Ex-Aid.

BEST VOICE ACTOR/ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Yuuki Ono/Balance, because he pulls off the joyful robot part so well, but can also do the emotional stuff with enough punch that you believe it. Plus, it puts both Balance and Naga on the list, which is nice.

BEST MERCHANDISE OF THE YEAR
Given that it convinved me to buy them, the Gashats. They're such a joy to make noises with, and the fact you don't need a belt makes them even better. Such a beautiful money sink

So....considering that everyone is praising geed here
I have to ask: is geed a good place to start watching ultraman?

Hard question. The thing about modern Ultraman is that they always incorporate stuff from past seasons. It starts with certain monsters making comebacks and continues with Ultraman from past shows dropping in.

That can be a bit overwhelming if you don't know anything about the franchise. Unlike Kamen Rider or Super Sentai who usually start with a fresh narrative and save cameos and crossovers for movies, Ultraman usually takes place in different times or dimensions that are always linked to the same past, and the story usually incorporates that. They do it loosely mind you, but they still expect you to know about this stuff.

All that being said, you really don't need to watch much before going into these shows if you're willing to read up on certain things. I started with Ultraman X which had many appearances from past characters and I just looked them up myself.

With Ultraman Geed, however, you might want to watch certain things first. The basic setup of Geed is that he is the son of Ultraman Belial. Plus, Ultraman Zero who fought Belial in the past appears as a regular member of the cast.

Both Belial and Zero made their appearance in movies, so you don't need to watch complete shows to catch up. They both first appeared in "Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie" which explains their origin. However, the movie also expects you to know stuff beforehand, but I feel like if you're willing to look some stuff up but focus on the parts of Belial and Zero in the movie you have a good foundation to start Geed.

If you don't want to do that, there exists an episode "zero" of Geed that is meant to advertise the show, it contains scenes from the movies to explain where Belial and Zero come from. Maybe watching that is enough for you.

So, long story short: You will face initial confusion no matter where you start with modern Ultraman, it can't be avoided. Even if you watch an older show first, chances are it isn't directly connected to a modern series aside from one cameo which doesn't help you much at all.

So I recommend starting with Geed if you want to, just be ready to look a few things up. Or just ask us in the Ultraman Geed-thread

Hard question. The thing about modern Ultraman is that they always incorporate stuff from past seasons. It starts with certain monsters making comebacks and continues with Ultraman from past shows dropping in.

That can be a bit overwhelming if you don't know anything about the franchise. Unlike Kamen Rider or Super Sentai who usually start with a fresh narrative and save cameos and crossovers for movies, Ultraman usually takes place in different times or dimensions that are always linked to the same past, and the story usually incorporates that. They do it loosely mind you, but they still expect you to know about this stuff.

All that being said, you really don't need to watch much before going into these shows if you're willing to read up on certain things. I started with Ultraman X which had many appearances from past characters and I just looked them up myself.

With Ultraman Geed, however, you might want to watch certain things first. The basic setup of Geed is that he is the son of Ultraman Belial. Plus, Ultraman Zero who fought Belial in the past appears as a regular member of the cast.

Both Belial and Zero made their appearance in movies, so you don't need to watch complete shows to catch up. They both first appeared in "Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie" which explains their origin. However, the movie also expects you to know stuff beforehand, but I feel like if you're willing to look some stuff up but focus on the parts of Belial and Zero in the movie you have a good foundation to start Geed.

If you don't want to do that, there exists an episode "zero" of Geed that is meant to advertise the show, it contains scenes from the movies to explain where Belial and Zero come from. Maybe watching that is enough for you.

So, long story short: You will face initial confusion no matter where you start with modern Ultraman, it can't be avoided. Even if you watch an older show first, chances are it isn't directly connected to a modern series aside from one cameo which doesn't help you much at all.

So I recommend starting with Geed if you want to, just be ready to look a few things up. Or just ask us in the Ultraman Geed-thread

So considering all of that what is the optimal place to start watching ultraman then?

So considering all of that what is the optimal place to start watching ultraman then?

I personally am a strong defender of the opinion that the best place to start is where you want to start since watching old shows just to get up to speed can just suck the excitement right out of you. You can always go back after you know that you liked it.

With Ultraman, in particular, I don't even know where to start, I started with a modern series and read up on stuff I wasn't familiar with.

I think you should just start with Geed and then go back and see what elements of the franchise you want to explore more. And who knows, maybe Ultraman isn't even for you anyways. Just try it.

If you want to I can give you a quick overlook over what I believe Ultraman is about and what you should know going into Geed in a few sentences.